Amundi Acquires 939,240 Shares of FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE)

Amundi increased its holdings in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) by 103.8% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 1,843,964 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 939,240 shares during the period. Amundi’s holdings in FirstEnergy were worth $73,334,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of FE. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in FirstEnergy by 5.2% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 617,768 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $27,398,000 after buying an additional 30,769 shares in the last quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of FirstEnergy during the 3rd quarter valued at about $205,000. Entropy Technologies LP bought a new stake in shares of FirstEnergy during the 3rd quarter valued at about $762,000. GSA Capital Partners LLP bought a new stake in shares of FirstEnergy during the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,012,000. Finally, Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of FirstEnergy during the 3rd quarter valued at about $202,000. 89.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

FirstEnergy Stock Down 0.6 %

FE stock opened at $39.14 on Wednesday. FirstEnergy Corp. has a twelve month low of $36.81 and a twelve month high of $44.97. The company has a quick ratio of 0.46, a current ratio of 0.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.58. The stock has a market cap of $22.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.25, a PEG ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.48. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $39.96 and its 200-day moving average price is $41.54.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The utilities provider reported $0.67 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.70 by ($0.03). FirstEnergy had a return on equity of 11.38% and a net margin of 6.64%. The business had revenue of $3.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.53 billion. On average, equities research analysts forecast that FirstEnergy Corp. will post 2.66 EPS for the current year.

FirstEnergy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, March 1st. Investors of record on Friday, February 7th were issued a $0.425 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 7th. This represents a $1.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.34%. FirstEnergy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 100.00%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

FE has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Scotiabank cut their price target on FirstEnergy from $50.00 to $44.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on FirstEnergy from $48.00 to $41.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Guggenheim cut their price target on FirstEnergy from $52.00 to $45.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 28th. KeyCorp cut their price target on FirstEnergy from $48.00 to $47.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Wolfe Research downgraded FirstEnergy from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, FirstEnergy has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $45.33.

FirstEnergy Company Profile

FirstEnergy Corp., through its subsidiaries, generates, transmits, and distributes electricity in the United States. It operates through Regulated Distribution and Regulated Transmission segments. The company owns and operates coal-fired, nuclear, hydroelectric, wind, and solar power generating facilities.